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dwingate108
Reviews
The Continental (2023)
Fun, action packed prequel with plenty of twists
Even though one knows of at least two survivors to this prequel, there were a delicious number of unexpected twists and a host of thrilling action sequences in the Wick hyperreal vein that necessarily demand suspension of normal physics and belief in its laws. The actors were almost uniformly terrific including Gibson as the piece's arch villain. Winston and Charon are superbly embodied and one can see why they and Wick became devoted.
Happily, there were even a few new characters whose fate we don't know whose future exploits are worthy of further interest.
I'd love to see a future meeting of our known survivors Winston and Charon and their earlier history with John Wick.
Dear Evan Hansen (2021)
I saw the Broadway hit twice, and still was affected by the story of this movie with beautiful music
I actually think the film was easier to follow than the Broadway show I saw twice. That probably just makes me sound obtuse.
Although it's a musical, where folk just burst into song and some dance too, the film works more realistically than the stage version. I saw the show's lead star Ben in all 3 iterations I saw of the tale, and I didn't find him to seem totally out of place as a high schooler, in fact better than most actors in a teen film or TV show.
I wasn't bored even a bit in a long-ish film. It's well worth seeing, especially if one missed the Broadway phenomenon.
The Sinner: Part VIII (2020)
Bomer shines in a psychological profile of a tortured soul
It was rewarding to see Bomer perform an excellent acting job.
Bill Pullman always delivers a good acting job, as expected.
Say what one wants about the plotting, but the acting of the two leads was worth it in my opinion.
American Gigolo (1980)
Go go 80s where everyone had a price
It's a COOL but sour look at the club, drug, and sale of bodies culture at the end of the 70s into the early 80s, before AIDS stopped a lot of that kind of business.
The soundtrack by Blondie is terrific. And Gere is perfect as the male Gigolo who's been targeted for extinction by some jealous or simply greedy guy probably bent on revenge as well. Lauren Hutton as Gere's married and wealthy true love is also spot on in this upscale soap opera.
It's fun because of the nihilistic gloss of a seemingly glam scene that actually has a seedy underside.
In effect, it's rather like a highly dramatic (an unsolved murder is central) double episode of REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS.
The World of Henry Orient (1964)
Wonderful coming of age comedy with stellar supporting cast
I was very young when I discovered this gem. I'd seen Dame Angela in MAME on Broadway. Even though she's a sinister mom again (MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE), she's swell as a glamorous and uncaring mother to one of two teen prep girls just discovering boys, embodied for them by the adult eponymous concert pianist played with comic elan by Peter Sellers. The film is a sophisticated blend of innocenct comic coming of age fun where Manhattan is an unbilled star character, and the bittersweet truth often accompanying any coming of age tale.
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Superior melodrama that actually improves with each subsequent viewing
I agree with all the other reviewers who are transfixed by the simplicity of a melodrama costarring two of the most beautiful humans ever on screen, Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. Both are reputed to have learned to love best their joint work in this fine film. It's black and white so seems at first viewing to be at a disadvantage to the glorious color of the prior years GONE WITH THE WIND.
I was impressed even with early viewings but am not inherently a fan of melodrama. Each subsequent viewing over the years makes me appreciate how magical the movie really is. Despite the whirlwind romance, it seems truly real in its emotions. I'm not at all surprised that both lead actors felt, at the end of their respective lives, this was their best work on screen.
And Leigh's best friend in the film, played by Virginia Fields, was truly a revelation also. Watch this every once upon a while and you'll be more impressed each time, I bet.
Beauty for the Asking (1939)
An early, 1939, "women for women" plot, in contrast to the jungle bitchery of 1939's classic THE WOMEN
I just watched this in 2019, and was struck by the very modern concept that women CAN support each other, without a man. It's a convoluted but fun plot that relies on some unusual serendipity, and also with some of the same unpleasant but apparently commonplace "bitchery" found in the more famous classic film. THE WOMEN, also released in 1939. Different times, different standards. Most women of that time frame had the simple and primary ambition of marrying a good breadwinner.
But the two lead women in this B-picture are excellently different. The top-billed star played by Lucille Ball doesn't use her patented ditzy persona that later made her America's best-loved clown, but instead she very sympathetically plays a beauty chemist who has brains, honesty and beauty to boot. She is contrasted by a wealthy but desperate and plain Jane rival who unwittingly steals away Lucy's gold-digging fiancee. Both characters happily are women of honesty and common sense, except when it comes to the Patric Knowles character that misuses both of these worthy women.
Fortunately, Patric gets his well-deserved comeuppance and our two misused and well-intended lead women ultimately prevail in amusing fashion.